We The People

All 200 duly elected members of the 191st General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are sworn in at once, for two years, on the first Wednesday in January following an election. Today being that day, 30 new legislators took their places, 25 of them in the House. 

Big challenges lie ahead, particularly for those House Legislators, who must work together to challenge leadership, and for activists, who must hold House members' feet to the fire.

Activists must articulate what we stand for at a gut level and Legislators have a responsibility to respond. Voters want to know how legislation will help us and we need to be listening for policies that explicitly say, "This is what this legislation does".

This isn't the time for *the common good*. This isn't the time for *we're all in this together*. Legislation needs to be specific: This bridge. This road. This community.

Politics in 2019 demands proactive engagement from all of us, elected and non, insist ing that we not play small, and that we drive urgency on the critical issues before us:

• Revenue, for the short- and long-term

• Adequate funding for K-12 education, including improving vocational education, expanding early childhood education, and providing debt-free college options

• Safe communities for immigrants and the undocumented

• Stronger protections for the environment

• Healthcare for all

• Affordable housing

• Ballot access, i.e., same day registration and ranked choice voting

• Campaign finance reform

A progressive government will operate with transparency and the highest ethical standards. It will ensure fair debate of issues and accountability to constituents, provide a decent standard of living, affordable housing as a human right, and fair work schedules for all, as institutional racism is also addressed.

Freedom. Justice. Equity for all.

It's an ambitious list and by no means exhaustive. For legislative action to be truly effective, issues would be prioritized and informed by the needs of the citizenry.

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Image credit: Screenshot, I ♥️ HUE

Members of the 191st General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts may be found HERE. As of this writing, membership of House, Senate, and Joint Committees have yet to be determined. New House and Senate Legislators are listed below.

HOUSE DISTRICTS
1st Franklin, Natalie Blais (D)
1st Hampshire, Lindsay Sabadosa (D)
2nd Hampshire, Daniel Carey (D)
3rd Hampshire, Mindy Domb (D)

4th Plymouth, Patrick Joseph Kearney (D)

4th Suffolk, David Biele (D)

5th Suffolk, Liz Miranda (D)
6th Middlesex, Maria Robinson (D)
7th Plymouth, Alyson Sullivan (R)

8th Worcester, Michael Soter (R)

9th Suffolk, Jon Santiago (D)

11th Bristol, Christopher Hendricks (D)
11th Essex, Peter Capano (D)
12th Bristol, Norman Orrall (R)
12th Plymouth, Kathleen LaNatra (D)
14th Essex, Christina Minicucci (D)
14th Middlesex, Tami Gouveia (D)

15th Middlesex, Michelle Ciccolo (D)

15th Norfolk, Tommy Vitolo (D)

15th Suffolk, Nika Elugardo (D)

16th Essex, Marcos Devers (D)

17th Worcester, David LeBoeuf (D)

18th Essex, Tram Nguyen (D)
19th Middlesex, David Robertson (D)
30th Middlesex, Rich Haggerty (D)

SENATE DISTRICTS
1st Essex, Diana DiZoglio (D)
1st Middlesex, Edward Kennedy (D)
2nd Essex/Middlesex, Barry Finegold (D)
Norfolk/Bristol/Middlesex, Becca Rausch (D)
Hampshire/Franklin/Worcester, Jo Comerford (D)

The Fair Share Amendment

The Legislature meets in a Formal Joint Session this afternoon, scheduled for 1:00 PM, to consider a vote on the Fair Share Amendment.

In the last few days, an organization opposing the Amendment has sent out a scurrilously misleading and inflammatory mailing, district-wide, in the districts of several Legislators who have publicly supported the Amendment; my representative, Jay Kaufman, House Co-Chair of the Joint Revenue Committee, is one of them. I hope Rep.Kaufman and his colleagues who have been targeted have heard that their constituents want them to support the Amendment!

If the measure passes, this is what the Amendment will do*:

The proposed constitutional amendment would establish an additional 4% state income tax on that portion of annual taxable income in excess of $1 million. This income level would be adjusted annually to reflect increases in the cost of living by the same method used for federal income-tax brackets. Revenues from this tax would be used, subject to appropriation by the state Legislature, only for public education, public colleges and universities, the repair and maintenance of roads, bridges, and public transportation. The proposed amendment would apply to tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2019.

Since this is an amendment to the state constitution, the Legislature needs to approve the measure in two successive constitutional conventions ("ConCon") before it can appear on the ballot for final approval in November 2018. We actually only need 25% support in the Legislature on each occasion, but I hope we do far better than that.

*The language of the proposed constitutional amendment, approved by the Attorney General's Office last fall.